Giorgio N Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 This will be my first Starfighter for this GB: The Hasegawa kit is the best on the market in 1/72 scale and is available in different versions. With Hasegawa being a japanese company it is not surprising they did a box for their own F-104J variant. This variant is a simplified F-104G without the avionics required for the strike mission. The Japanese Starfighters have mainly carried either the original NM finish or a rey finish with NM tail. However they have also used a huge number of one off schemes during exercises and some have carried in service air superiority schemes based on different greys. The Hasegawa box includes one of these and this is likely the one I'll build. Why a Japanese Starfighter ? The colour schemes alone would be a good reason, but the main reason is that I was in Japan earlier this year and I was amazed by the country and by how nice the people are. This same box was actually bought in a shop in Kyoto, for a figure that would not buy me an airfix series 2 kit here... The idea was to build the kit OOTB, but then I recalled I have an eduard zoom PE set that I had bought by mistake so I will add this as well. These two books will be the main references used: The Lock-On is a brilliant reference for everything on the Starfighter. The Bunrin-Do has a lot of pictures of Japanese aircrafts in various schemes and will also help with the details that differ between the G and the J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatcliffeDemon Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Haha, and there was me just about to post in the chat thread that I've bitten the bullet and just bought myself the Hasegawa 1/48 version of the F-104J. Haven't decided which one of the many great schemes to paint it yet, but I have to admit that I fancy a crack at the classic bare metal finish as I've never done anything like that before. Anyway, will watch your build thread with great interest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted August 4, 2012 Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 Will be good to see yours in 1/48 together with this, will make for an interesting comparison ! I was tempted by the bare metal finish too, but I realised I've yet to manage to do these finishes properly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 Finally managed to start this ! First of all, the sprue shots: The sprues include the parts common to all Hasegawa single seater starfigthers and a few specific to this box. These are mainly the ECM bulges for the canadian aircrafts, so I'd say that a Japanese F-104J can be made with every box. One of the pictures show the Eduard zoom set I'll use to add some detail. This is really a good kit and the detail is better than many more recent offerings. The plastic however shows some flash: I built a F-104S before and have a G and a TF in the stash and none of these had any flash, guess the moulds are starting to see the effect of the usage. Even if it's still very nice, this is not a brand new kit and IIRC it was first issued in 1995 ! The decal sheet is quite nice and with some cutting of the codes I believe most Japanese Starfighters can be built: The box also includes a decal sheet for the CF-104. The decals look better than many hasegawa decals used to be and even the white is white here and not yellowish While most people start from the cockpit, for some reason I started from the engine. Here hasegawa gives us 4 parts and here are the turbine and the exhaust pipe painted. The pipe on the J-79 was in a light blue and this was reproduced with a mix of vallejos. The afterburner ring is painted with humbrol metalcote steel, that I find very good to reproduce parts in jet engines The detail in the wheel wells is quite basic and I added a few cables in the front gear well. Everything is painted aluminium, not sure how much will be visible though It was then time to start on the cockpit. The kit offers some nice raised details, however as I have the eduard set, I'll use this. I will not however remove the detail from the hasegawa front panel but I'll build a plasticard support structure for the eduard parts. As I have an esci kit in the pile, the hasegawa panel will be useful on the less detailed italian kit. A small note about the cockpit: this should be painted in grey FS 36231, however the lifecolor paint I was using came out too dark so I decided to use a lighter colour. With a wash at the end of the painting job I'm hoping that the final result will be OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Hello Giorgio, Nice start and I look forward to your build. I'm sure whichever scheme you settle on, it will be very attractive. Cheers, Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 6, 2012 Author Share Posted September 6, 2012 Have to say that I've not chosen the scheme yet ! Initially I wanted to build this 207 Sq 2-grey machine with a sharkmouth: http://www.916-starfighter.de/Large/Stars/wJ635.htm Then for some reason I started to be drawn to the simpler grey and NM 204 Sqn. anniversary aircraft: http://www.916-starfighter.de/Large/Stars/wJ612.htm Now while browsing the same site I found another variation of the anniversary markings over another of the experimental grey schemes: http://www.916-starfighter.de/Large/Stars/wJ692.htm Not an easy choice !!! In the meantime work is progressing in the cockpit. I've assembled the Eduard instrument panel and here it is compared to the kit part: I have to say that I love these zoom sets: they are cheap (or were cheap, the later sets are more expensive) and provide the details that are most visible. There's no way I'd have been able to paint a 1/72 panel to that level. Work has now started on the seat. The Japanese aircrafts used the Lockheed C2 seat. When I built my F-104S a couple of years ago I found that the MB seat was too tall and prevented the canopy from closing, so the first thing I did was to check the height of the C2 seat. Fortunately it fits fine so I can use the kit seat with the Eduard etched seatbelts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 7, 2012 Author Share Posted September 7, 2012 Quick update: the cockpit is taking shape, with the panel now glued to the tub. The overall effect is not bad: The seat is almost completely painted. It only needs some bits of colour here and there and then it will have the PE parts added: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 Great start sir. Deacon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex77 Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 Some nice progress Giorgio. The Eduard instrument panel sure is better then the one in the kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Thanks guys, glad you like the proress so far. After a week with very little done, some progress occurred during the week-end. First the seat was completed... and I have to say that it was a very tough job ! Some of the PE parts are quite difficult to put in place but in the end I go there... hopefully ! With the seat completed it was time to close the front fuselage... although the seat has not been glued in yet. And yes, the Eduard instrument panel is beautiful ! This is the overall result with the closed fuselage: With the front fuselage complete it was time to start putting together the air intakes. I didn't bother filling the extractor marks, as these will be completely invisible once the parts are glued The black parts are also not painted that well... but again, checking into the completed parts shows that these problems can't be seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 I was hoping for some good progres over the weekend, but I had forgotten that the tax forms had to be submitted... do you know things like finding the right colour for Malta based spitfires ? Or trying to understand luftwaffe late war camouflage ? All of that pales in comparison in trying to fill an italian tax form correctly !!! Fortunately some progress was achieved on the Japanese Starfighter too, and here I have to comment something on the hasegawa 1/72 kits: they are beautiful, accurate and nicely detailed. However the way the fuselage is broken in several parts makes for some interesting fit, at least in the hands of a modeller like me... Still after some work and with a bit of filler here and there, I managed to put the fuselage together ! After that, it was easy to add the wings. Sharp eyed observer might notice as a few PE bits have been added to the cockpit coaming, most important of them the gunsight frame. Now I'll have to add the transparent part and the 2 fixed parts of the canopy before starting to prime the whole airframe. In the meantime I've changed my mind and I think the model will represent a 204 Sqn. commemorative aircraft in grey/white/NM... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 The idea was to take full advantage of the weekend and start painting this ! As often happens however, things didn't go according to plans ! Disaster struck when the rear part of the canopy assembly ended up covered in glue, and this meant working hard to sort the problem. Fortunately I managed to restore the canopy to a decent level of transparency, so I could at least prepare the aircraft for the first coat of primer (that will hopefully followlater today). Another bit that was added before priming was the pitot tube... or better part of it ! As I built a Hasegawa F-104S before, I know that I'll end up knocking the pitot tube off, so I chose to follow a different approach: I used a 0.5 mm outer diameter tube and inserted this well into the nose cone, leaving out the length of the larger diameter part of the tube. When the model is completely painted and does not need to be handled anymore, I'll insert the final bit within the tube. The tube needed to be blended in with the nose cone and for this I used CA glue and filler. The assembly is now much more robust and I'm confident this will survive tha handling needed to complete the model way better than the original kit part while looking pretty good. I think I'll add this modification to all my models from now on ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oggy4624 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 My pitot and all the fiddly bits will be left off till last as I know the carpet monster is sure to claim some victims. Nice job so far. Will you be using a hairy stick or an airbrush for this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 Thanks, not good as yours though ! I'll use an airbrush for sure, I haven't brushpainted in ages and I don't even know if I'm still capable... After the disaster that hit my double-action last year, the task will fall on my faithful Badger 200, bought a few years ago in Halfords on the Tipperary Rd... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 A quick update (with pictures to follow): I'm still swearing in several languages ! I airbrushed the wings white (good old tamiya) and then the fuselage in grey (vallejo). When I started masking to spray the bare metal areas, bits of grey paint flaked off the model. Very, very annoying ! I found that the tail especially was not primed well, so the paint did not adhere properly. This means I now hae to prime again and respray the fuselage. I hate these things !!!! My job is also getting in the way with a number of business trips that are preventing me from spending as much time I'd like on the two Starfighters... but at least this one must be completed before the end of the GB ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oggy4624 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Sorry to hear about your painting agro, Giorgio. Just putting the finishing touches to mine now. I cannot recommend tamiya tape enough. I also primed the kit with good old skull white spray (remember that) burnished with some kitchen towel. It is a perfect base for the alclad. - white all over meant I only had to mask the top of the wings and fuselage band. Looking forward to seeing the results of your labour soon. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 unfortunately yesterday more disaster struck ! The model fell from my hands while I was masking the rear metal panels and it bent the pitot tube and broke off a wing ! Now the pitot tube has been straightened... and I'm so glad I used the metal tube for this one ! The wing is back in place but the paint will need to be touched up... with a business trip coming in the next few days I'm not sure anymore I can finish this in time. I think I might focus on completing the CF-104 as that one needs less masking for the paint scheme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oggy4624 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Shame. I would have liked to see your JASDF coffin. Looking forward to seeing the Canuck ,though. For the second time this year I will have something to show Zack and the lads on Thursday night - providing Gary doesn't cancel -again! Hopefully , the carpet monster will not claim any more victims before then and all pitots etc will stay attached. Keep me posted on the decal sheet , should you chose to use any of it. It was set up for 48th but should scale down to 72nd no problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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